Gap between London prices and the rest at ten year high

The gap between London house prices and average values in England and Wales is at its widest for ten years, new research from Savills shows.

Westminster

The typical home in London is now worth 113% more than the average in England and Wales, according to their analysis of Land Registry data. This compares to a differential of 73% in 2005/06 and just 47% in 1995.

The conclusion is fairly obvious: if you want more for your money (whether, as Savills argue, it’s value for money is debatable), move out of London. For example:

A typical four-bed family home in prime south-west London is now in the region of £1.325m

By contrast, an equivalent family home in the prime commuter zone just outside the M25 is around £805,000 – a saving of £520,000 compared to an equivalent figure of £190,000 five years ago (£800k, of course, is still staggering expensive by most standards).

Given these differences, Cook expects rich London buyers to start looking beyond the capital:

These differentials are likely to become too strong to resist for many buyers and so we expect to see the ripple effect re-establish itself next year.

This year, the levels of unsold stock on the market are likely to limit price growth prospects in the prime regional market.”